Worksite-Related Alcohol Behavior: Urban Transit Drivers
Principal Investigator: June Fisher, M.D.
Project Manager: David Ragland, Ph.D.

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Long-Term Objectives: This is a competing renewal for a study of alcohol behavior in transit drivers who work for the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), an ethnically diverse (60% Black, with the remaining population divided among White, Hispanic, and Asian), blue-collar population with about 20% women. The broad, long-term objectives remain unchanged to: (1) understand the overall pattern of alcohol use in the population of Muni employees (i.e., quantity/frequency, dependency, context); (2) identify the major workplace and other factors which influence the level and pattern of alcohol consumption in Muni employees (job stress, aspects of workplace culture, policy); (3) identify the range and extent of consequences of alcohol consumption in the Muni population (job and non-job); and (4) develop, implement, and evaluate worksite-based primary and secondary prevention programs or policies with alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems as a major component.

Specific Aims: Based on information obtained during the current grant period, the following tasks are proposed to be accomplished over a three-year period: (1) conduct longitudinal follow-up of two cross-sectional surveys to examine factors associated with alcohol consumption, including subsequent traffic collisions on the job, workers' compensation injury and costs, absenteeism, job termination, and traffic violations and accidents from the DMV; (2) use qualitative data collection methods to explore several findings from the surveys, including: (a) increased alcohol consumption related to winding down with other drivers after work, (b) the relationship of alcohol consumption to job stress, (c) the relationship between racial and gender discrimination and alcohol consumption, and (d) the decrease in reported alcohol consumption after the initiation of random drug and alcohol testing at Muni (mandated by DOT); and (3) conduct a systematic feedback of the findings to Muni managers, union officials, and especially the drivers themselves, exploring the implications of our findings, and developing a framework for subsequent intervention.

Significance: Information from these activities should have several purposes: (1) the results should have immediate and direct applicability to other transit authorities and to the transportation industry in general, since the job structure and public safety issues are the same; (2) the results should be relevant to other blue collar, service-oriented occupations that are ethnically and demographically diverse, and (3) the results should have direct applicability in the planning and implementation of a general, comprehensive program for primary and secondary prevention of alcohol-related problems at the worksite.


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